John Legend's Secret Generosity to Schoolkids
Music star John Legend is making sure children in at least one public school system will be fed a proper lunch.
The singer just donated $5,000 to a GoFundMe campaign. It will fund lunches for students in need within Seattle Public schools.
The donation came sometime over Memorial Day weekend. It fulfilled an entire quarter of the initial goal of $20,000.
At first, Legend kept his contribution hushed. He donated under his birth name, John Stephens. It was a humble move on his behalf.
Jeff Lew, a Seattle parent who started the campaign three weeks ago, sent a note to Stephens, which read, "By the way, are you also known as John Legend? Regardless of who you are or not, thank you. You've helped a lot."
"Yes, it's me," Legend replied.
Lew then thanked him publicly via Twitter.
Legend gave a sincere response: "My pleasure! We should have free lunch for all of our public students!"
My pleasure! We should have free lunch for all of our public students!
— John Legend (@johnlegend) May 29, 2017
Lew has received vast media coverage for his efforts. The campaign has now raised over $43,000.
Currently, students who acquire $15 or more in lunch debt often have to eat food of lower quality. It's a policy referred to as "lunch shaming."
Lew's campaign, "Erase Seattle School Lunch Debt," will go toward providing healthy lunches for these students.